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Some prosecutors are tiring of waiting five months or more for the results of drug-analysis
tests from the State Highway Patrol laboratory in Columbus.

The wait has meant delayed justice in some cases. In a few others, it has meant that additional
crimes likely have been committed by suspects who remained on the streets — instead of in jail —
because they often are not charged until lab results are received.

The patrol cited an ever-increasing number of cases and an undermanned laboratory staff but is
promising to pick up the pace.

The backlog of cases, first reported in the
Springfield News-Sun, had reached more than 4,000 until recent changes and the hiring of
four more people, including three criminologists, said Lt. Anne Ralston, patrol spokeswoman.

The lab, which handles patrol cases and evidence from about 200 police agencies, is working to
improve turnaround times that now average 146 days for drug analysis and 18 days for testing blood
and urine samples for drugs and alcohol in suspected driving-under-the-influence cases, she
said.

In contrast, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which has a bigger lab and handles
evidence from 750 police agencies, has cut the wait on drug-analysis tests to 23 days, from 43, in
little more than a year.

Like many other counties, Union County generally does not file charges in drug cases until test
results confirm that a substance is illegal.

“We have drug cases sitting here that are months old,” said Prosecutor David Phillips. “We want
to get them indicted and charged and adjudicated, but instead, we keep looking at them and looking
at them and looking at them.

“Often, these are people who are just passing through our county,” Phillips said. “So, the
longer we wait to charge them, we deal with the ‘Where are they now?’ aspect of it all. It is
frustrating.”

Pickaway County Prosecutor Judy Wolford and Licking County Prosecutor Kenneth Oswalt also would
appreciate quicker turnaround times from the lab.

“Everyone — defendants and the public — would prefer a much-quicker turnaround,” Oswalt
said.

Traci Whittaker, spokeswoman for Delaware County Prosecutor Carol O’Brien, said lab delays don’t
hurt cases but can prolong them. “Would we like faster lab results? Absolutely. We’re in the same
boat as every prosecutor’s office.”

Prosecutors did give good marks to the State Highway Patrol lab for expediting testing on cases
when suspects are flight risks or might have a history of violence and need to be quickly
jailed.

The
Springfield News-Sun reported that a man whose drug-possession case was dismissed — as a
result, the prosecutor said, of the patrol’s delayed test results — was accused of killing two men
months later.

The lab is working to have drug tests out the door in 60 days, instead of 140-some, the patrol’s
Ralston said. The lab’s workload has nearly doubled since 2000, she said. “We want to provide good
service, and we took immediate steps to improve last year.”

The lab does not handle DNA testing, which falls to the BCI lab, a part of the office of Ohio
Attorney General Mike DeWine, who vowed to improve the turnaround on DNA tests awaited by local
police and prosecutors.

The lab’s forensic-biology division has added 24 employees and increased the use of robots to
reduce waiting times on DNA tests to fewer than 100 days, from 125, with more improvement expected,
said BCI Superintendent Thomas Stickrath.